This is a little jem of a book. The arguably two greatest living physicists of the 80s, Feynman and Weinberg, both Nobel Laureates, pay tribute to their master, the man who said that mathematical beauty is what physicists should look for in physical laws, the one and only, Paul Dirac. These memorial lectures are the best one could wish for, together with Abdus Salam's tribute a couple of years before. I derived pure delight in reading Feynman's lecture, which explains the existence of antiparticles predicted by Dirac in his equation of the electron. Weinberg however surprisingly outstands Feynman in giving a lecture on symmetry laws, etc. These lectures would have surely thrilled Dirac, without doubt. For all physicists who like to have those little precious books on their shelves, it's a very good and enjoyable buy.

As usual, the best physics books are short and to the point, as is this one. The two Dirac lectures may serve as a perfectly good mini physics course all by themselves. I always enjoy a Feynman lecture, and this is no exception. He cuts to the chase without sacrificing the plot. But, I must say, in this case the Wienberg lecture is the better of the two. Weinberg's style has a particular grace & beauty about it that gently exposes the aesthetic meaning of the search for a picture of nature.

Feynman yet again gives great insight into the laws of physics, this time exploring the reasons for existence of anti-particles, starting from the dirac equation etc.. Plus some really outstanding photographs, that fella Weinberg will be chuffed to have his name mentioned on the book cover!

The 1910 equivalent of the Baseball Encyclopedia or Total Baseball and the first really comprehensive baseball reference book. Hundreds of biographical sketches, photographs (portraits), detailed club histories, statistics (almost quaint in its early-1900's point of view : pitching leaders by winning pct., for example; no discussion of e.r.a., home run records, etc.). Plenty of boxscores from important games dating back to the 1830's and every "world series" from the 1880's on. An absolutely essential addition to the library of any fan of early baseball.

Al Spink (of the *Sporting News* Spinks) wrote this pioneering history of baseball in 1910 and updated it the next year. Because Organized Baseball was so young, Spink was able to write the kind of encyclopedic overview which would fill a six-volume set today.

Spink discusses EVERY significant event in the history of baseball to 1910: not just famous players, but also owners, umpires, mid-19th century teams, even early baseball writers. He draws on his personal knowledge of these men to relate long-forgotten anecdotes, and to convey a perspective which no modern writer could match without spending five years at a microfilm reader.

I can't imagine any serious baseball fan with an interest in pre-1910 baseball not learning a lot from this book. Even the illustrations are many cuts above the images in most modern books about this era.

The baseball reissue of the year!

This book as a basic physics textbook is weak in content - its similar to Halliday-Resnick's textbook. In its supposedly main goal, to give a historical approach to physics, it not only fails but is full of historical mistakes. In the references are cited works such as Drake's study on Galileo and Cohen's on Newton, but exactly the opposite of what you find in such works is presented in the textbook. Cohen and Westfall, for instance, explains that stating that Newton delayed 20 years his discoveries is completely wrong, since Newton did not have the law of gravitation in its final account on his hands until very soon before the publication of Principia. However, this is exaclty what you find in this textbook : "Newton delayed 20 years ... ". This is just one example....

I saw the excellent Mechanical Universe Television series while I was in high school and I recently purchased this book. I've just finished reading this book and am simultaneously doing problems in Schaum 3000 Physics problems. This is a great reader to use as it puts the physics in the historical context and traces the reasoning these great scientists used in inducing their conclusions in the first place. The explanations are mostly very clear. Some of the historical interpretations are questionable but they do not detract from the overall value of the historical approach. This is how all physics should be taught.

I came across the Mechanical Universe telecourses after my third year of College and really liked them.

One day I discovered this book, and then had to buy its sequel.

They are awesome in their storytelling ability and in the clarity they bring to some very difficult concepts. The depth of content is simply HUGE, from Integration and Differentiation to Thermodynamics and Quantum Mechanics.. I can't wait for the telecourses to come out on DVD.

In the meantime, Annenburg also sells the series on video tape to consumers, and any books by Goodstein and Apostol who contributed to this book are similarly astounding.

Consider this a recommendation for casual reading, I already had my grades for the college courses and developed my fanaticism "after" school was out.

Trust me these are to Physics and Mathematics, what "Cosmos" was to Astronomy.